1 1 2 3 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT 4 Regular Session 5 Monday, October 26, 2020 6 9:00 a.m. 7 Commissioners' Courtroom 8 Kerr County Courthouse 9 Kerrville, Texas 78028 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: ROB KELLY, Kerr County Judge(Via Zoom) HARLEY BELEW, Commissioner Precinct 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Precinct 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Precinct 3 25 DON HARRIS, Commissioner Precinct 4 2 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 *** Commissioners' Comments. 4 4 1.6 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 7 action to appoint William Aycock to the 5 Emergency Services District #1 (ESD #1) Board. 6 1.1 Update regarding Veterans Day 2020 events. 13 7 1.2 Clarify the "Courts intent," revote, discuss 15 8 and take appropriate action regarding the Pro Life Resolution that was presented to 9 the Court on October 19th, 2020. 10 1.3 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 41 action to accept the OOG, Office of the 11 Governor, Grant Award, Grant Number 2781405, for the Kerr County Victims' Services 12 Department. 13 1.4 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 42 action to accept the CESF Grant, 14 CV-Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding, grant in the amount of $30,000.00. 15 1.5 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 43 16 action to declare IT items as surplus. 17 1.7 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 action regarding the Interlocal Agreement 18 for the Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office. 19 1.8 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 44 20 action to ratify and confirm Oversight Board Membership and Policies for the Hill 21 Country Regional Public Defender's Office. 22 1.9 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 61 action to appoint three(3) Kerr County 23 representatives to serve on the Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office 24 Oversight Board. 25 3 1 I-N-D-E-X 2 NO. PAGE 3 1.10 Public hearing regarding setting the speed 62 limit to 35 MPH on Cade Loop S. 4 1.11 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 62 5 action for the Commissioners' Court final approval regarding the speed limit of 35 6 MPH on Cade Loop S. 7 1.12 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 64 action for the Court to approve a revision 8 of plat for Kerrville South 2, Tract 119, Volume 4, Page 64. 9 1.13 Consider, discuss and take appropriate 66 10 action for the Court to formally reject Contracts 2 and 3 for Phase II, and 11 Contract 2 for Phase III of the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project. 12 2.1 Pay Bills. 72 13 2.3 Late Bills. 73 14 2.5 Accept Monthly Reports. 74 15 2.6 Court Orders. 74 16 3.1 Status reports from Department Heads. 75 17 3.2 Status reports from Elected Officials. 80 18 3.3 Status reports from Liaison Commissioners. 83 19 *** Adjournment. 87 20 *** Reporter's Certificate. 88 21 * * * * * * 22 23 24 25 4 1 JUDGE KELLY: (Gavel bang.) Good morning. 2 It is Monday, October 26th, 2020, 9 o'clock in the 3 morning. Kerr County Commissioners' Court is now in 4 session. If you would, please stand for the prayer and 5 the pledge. 6 (Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Please be seated. We'll 8 remind everyone if you would, please, turn your phones 9 off or to vibrate so they don't go off in the courtroom. 10 And this is the part of the agenda where we welcome the 11 public's input. If there's anybody that would like to 12 address the Court and provide input to the Court, this 13 is your opportunity to do so. We ask that -- it is -- 14 if you want to speak to the Court about an agenda item 15 that you wait until that agenda item is called. Is 16 there anyone who would like to address the Court at this 17 time on something that is not on the agenda? 18 Okay. There being no one, then we will go 19 to Commissioners' Comments. Commissioner Belew, how's 20 it going? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, it's raining out 22 there. I've been out there campaigning in the parking 23 lot, so that's about all I've done lately is standing 24 out in the parking lot at the Hill Country Youth Event 25 Center. And it's been good meeting and talking to 5 1 folks, and you know you get feedback when you see people 2 in the grocery store, but you get a little stronger 3 feedback when you see them in the parking lot when 4 they're about to vote and they're thinking about these 5 things. So it's good. It's all been good. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Two. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Precinct 2 has another 8 quarry operations beginning. A lot of people are 9 concerned about it. We'll try and see if we can't set 10 up a town hall meeting like we've done in the past and 11 have discussion about what the plans are and what people 12 feel about it. And anyway, it looks like it's all 13 staying out of the floodplain, Charlie's been down there 14 and checked on it. So anyway, a lot of discussion on 15 that in that regard. That's it. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Three. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My voice is a little bit 18 raspy this morning and I think it's more because it was 19 a very late night. We were in Houston for a baseball 20 tournament last night. Sam and I got in about 2:30 last 21 night. Which is, for me, very late. And not a whole 22 lot of sleep and a lot yelling. The good news is that 23 Sam's team won the tournament. It was a big tournament. 24 Beat probably one of the best teams in the state in a 25 championship game. It was good. 6 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. Good deal. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Congratulations. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. Four. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I went to the 5 baseball game. Football game. But on a lot lower 6 level. You know, 11-year-olds and an 8th grade football 7 game went just fine. My grandkids in Huntsville and 8 what have you, and a good turnout on -- all the way 9 around. 10 I see we're getting a chance of rain for the 11 next few days, which is good. We really need it. 12 Because, you know, talking to our volunteer fire 13 departments, you know, we're probably teetering on going 14 back to the burn ban. Hopefully the -- maybe we'll get 15 lucky and get something. So that's about all I have for 16 this morning. 17 JUDGE KELLY: I don't have a lot to report 18 on the county level. I did spend three hours at the 19 Youth Event Center on Friday trying to settle things 20 down. People were a little testy out there. And I want 21 to give a shout out to Commissioner Belew, who was very 22 helpful in trying to mediate a -- what was perceived to 23 be a dangerous situation at the gate as you were coming 24 in. And we tried to get all that worked out. 25 And at the last minute, one reneged and 7 1 decided not to go along with it, because I didn't want 2 to have to turn it over to Commissioner Harris, which I 3 eventually did have to turn it over to Commissioner 4 Harris and fortunately, we got things, I think, settled 5 down out there. 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Everything was fine 7 Saturday -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: Which is good. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- as far as I can 10 tell. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Which is good. But other than 12 that, I think pretty much business as usual. 13 One thing I am going to do this morning with 14 the agenda, is because I do anticipate that we're going 15 to have quite a presentation. I am going to take 1.6 16 and call it first, because William Aycock has been 17 appointed to the Emergency Services District Number 1 18 and I know he has a conflicting appointment that he 19 needs to make, and I want to get him sworn in. So I 20 want to call 1.6 first. That's consider, discuss and 21 take appropriate action to appoint William Aycock to the 22 Emergency Services District Number 1. Commissioner 23 Harris. 24 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Bill, you want to come 25 up to the podium there and take your mask off so people 8 1 can see who we're getting in here. We're very fortunate 2 that Bill has agreed to serve on the ESD Board for 3 Ingram, and we're excited to get him on board. And 4 that's about it. Do you have anything to say, Bill? 5 MR. AYCOCK: No. I'm excited to get to 6 work and do my part. 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah. I've known Bill 8 for a while, basically through his kids. They've served 9 in our FAA program in Ingram, and great family, and 10 excited to get Bill on board, so -- 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. You have a motion? 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, I move to 13 appoint William Aycock to ESD Board Number 1. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll second that. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Motion's been made by 16 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 17 appoint William Aycock to the Emergency Services 18 District Number 1. Is there any discussion? Those in 19 favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you, Bill. 21 MR. AYCOCK: Thank you, sir. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Please raise your right hand 23 and repeat after me. I, state your name -- 24 MR. AYCOCK: I, William Aycock -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- do solemnly swear -- 9 1 MR. AYCOCK: -- do solemnly swear -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- I have not directly or 3 indirectly paid -- 4 MR. AYCOCK: -- I have not indirectly or 5 directly paid -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: -- offered -- 7 MR. AYCOCK: -- offered -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: -- promised to pay -- 9 MR. AYCOCK: -- promised to pay -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: -- contributed or promised to 11 contribute any money or thing of value -- 12 MR. AYCOCK: -- contributed or -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: -- promised to contribute -- 14 MR. AYCOCK: -- promised to contribute -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: -- any money -- 16 MR. AYCOCK: -- any money -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: -- or thing of value -- 18 MR. AYCOCK: -- or thing of value -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- or promised any public 20 office -- 21 MR. AYCOCK: -- or promised any public 22 office -- 23 JUDGE KELLY: -- or employment -- 24 MR. AYCOCK: -- or employment -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: -- for the giving -- 10 1 MR. AYCOCK: -- for the giving -- 2 JUDGE KELLY: -- or withholding -- 3 MR. AYCOCK: -- or withholding -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: -- of a vote at the election 5 at which I was elected -- 6 MR. AYCOCK: -- at the vote at the election 7 of which I was elected -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: -- or as a reward to secure my 9 appointment -- 10 MR. AYCOCK: -- or as a reward to secure my 11 appointment -- 12 JUDGE KELLY: -- or confirmation -- 13 MR. AYCOCK: -- or confirmation -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- whichever the case may be. 15 MR. AYCOCK: -- whichever the case may be. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Now, repeat after me: I, 17 state your name -- 18 MR. AYCOCK: I, William Aycock -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: -- do solemnly swear -- 20 MR. AYCOCK: -- do solemnly swear -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: -- I will faithfully 22 execute -- 23 MR. AYCOCK: -- I will faithfully execute -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- the duties of the office -- 25 MR. AYCOCK: -- the duties of the office -- 11 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- of the Board of 2 Commissioners of Emergency Services District Number 1 -- 3 MR. AYCOCK: -- of the Board of 4 Commissioners of Emergency Services District Number 1 -- 5 JUDGE KELLY: -- of Kerr County -- 6 MR. AYCOCK: -- of Kerr County -- 7 JUDGE KELLY: -- in the State of the 8 Texas -- 9 MR. AYCOCK: -- in the State of Texas -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: -- and will, to the best of my 11 ability -- 12 MR. AYCOCK: -- and will, to the best of my 13 ability -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: -- preserve -- 15 MR. AYCOCK: -- preserve -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: -- protect -- 17 MR. AYCOCK: -- protect -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: -- and defend -- 19 MR. AYCOCK: -- and defend -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: -- the Constitution -- 21 MR. AYCOCK: -- the Constitution -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: -- and the laws of the United 23 States -- 24 MR. AYCOCK: -- and the laws of the United 25 States -- 12 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- and of this state -- 2 MR. AYCOCK: -- and of this state -- 3 JUDGE KELLY: -- so help me God. 4 MR. AYCOCK: -- so help me God. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 6 MR. AYCOCK: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: You're now on the Commission. 8 And I've signed these, I need you to sign them and pass 9 them over here to -- and once you sign those and if 10 you'll give them to Jody Grinstead, right here, our 11 Court Coordinator, then you are legal. You need a pen? 12 Oh, we've got a lefty. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: We probably need a 14 quick picture. I know the paper is probably going to 15 want one. 16 MR. AYCOCK: Sure. 17 MRS. STEBBINS: You want me to take the 18 picture, Commissioner? 19 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, would you? 20 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. Absolutely. 21 JUDGE KELLY: Let's get back here where she 22 can get a picture. 23 MR. AYCOCK: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: And we're going to shake hands 25 anyway. 13 1 (Photograph is taken.) 2 MRS. STEBBINS: Okay. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Congratulations. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Thank you, Bill. 5 MRS. STEBBINS: I'll send it -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Will you send it to 7 Lisa, too? 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Thank you. 10 MRS. STEBBINS: You're welcome. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll get back on 12 track. 1.1, the next item on the agenda. Do we have 13 anybody from Veterans Services here? 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. They're in the hall. 15 JUDGE KELLY: 1.1 Update regarding Veterans 16 Day 2020 events. Marty Mistretta and Jennifer Sanchez. 17 MS. MISTRETTA: Yes, sir. Good morning. At 18 least for Veterans Day this year, we're kind of doing it 19 a little more low key. We were going to do a bigger 20 event but with Covid we kind of had to put things on the 21 sidelines here. But we wanted to ask permission to 22 decorate the courthouse. We could possibly put a wreath 23 up at the gazebo, just something small, inexpensive. 24 Yes, sir? 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I was just going to 14 1 say, speak up at little bit more because the microphone 2 is up here. 3 MS. MISTRETTA: Yes, sir. So just something 4 small this year. We're going to partner with the Rotary 5 Club at the Hill Country Veterans Center. So we will 6 make a presence there, like we did last year. We're 7 going to bring the veterans book with us and just kind 8 of hang out our stuff so that people know who we are and 9 have a face out there. 10 There's a couple other events around town, 11 so if we don't have one there's other ones available. 12 Bandera's having a parade. Heart of the Hills VFW Post 13 1480 is having a barbecue fundraiser. Ken Stoepel Ford 14 is hosting a Veterans Day meal. And Center Point ISD is 15 having a drive-thru parade. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: A lot of things. 17 MS. MISTRETTA: So if we can get permission 18 for the 9th through the 13th to decorate the courthouse, 19 that's what we're asking for. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. So no action 21 required other than a -- say it again, Marty. 22 MS. MISTRETTA: It would be the 9th through 23 the 13th just to have ribbons around. 24 JUDGE KELLY: I'll make a motion that we 25 authorize Veterans Services to decorate the courthouse 15 1 from November 9th through the 13th. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Second. 3 MS. MISTRETTA: Thank you. 4 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion. It was 5 seconded by Commissioner Moser. Is there any 6 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Marty -- this is Mary's 8 first time, I think, to speak in Court since she's been 9 on reserve duty for several months. So welcome back, 10 Marty. 11 MS. MISTRETTA: Thank you. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And Jennifer, thank 13 you. 14 MS. SANCHEZ: Thank you. 15 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.2 clarify the "Courts 16 intent," and revote, and discuss and take appropriate 17 action regarding the Pro Life Resolution that was 18 presented to the Court on October 19th, 2020. 19 You will recall that at that time there were 20 two votes in favor of the Resolution, one vote against 21 and two abstentions. But the clear intention of the 22 Court was not to approve the Resolution. And I 23 understand the courtroom is packed. And all of y'all 24 are here to talk. I can only speak for myself. I 25 didn't want to have to vote against this Resolution. I 16 1 abstained on the Second Amendment Resolution, which I 2 thought was inappropriate and not County business. I 3 think this is inappropriate and not County business. I 4 understand the substance of the motion, the substance of 5 the Resolution, the substance of the issue. That's not 6 what's at -- that's not the point today. 7 For me the point is, this is not County 8 business. There's nothing we can do about this. This 9 is legislative. You need to talk to your state 10 representatives. You need to talk to your Congressman. 11 There's nothing that a Commissioners' Court can do about 12 this. I'm sure I'm going to hear from all of y'all 13 about how important it is. But it is not County 14 business and I will vote against it, no matter what you 15 tell me today. So with that, I'm opening it up for 16 discussion. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, as I understand 18 it, and did a little research on it, two abstentions 19 means you're -- we still had a quorum. 20 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We're two against one 22 so the resolution passed. 23 JUDGE KELLY: That's right. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: However, it was stated 25 that it didn't pass. 17 1 JUDGE KELLY: I know. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And I'll have to say 3 for my part I was inkling at the fact that it actually 4 did pass. And all that really needs to happen today is 5 verification that it did pass. That's all we really 6 need to do. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or -- or we could 8 rescind. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I -- I put it on there 10 to revote. 11 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, then we need to 12 revote on everything that we've had any abstentions on. 13 Anything anybody abstained on we could bring that back 14 in. In fact -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: If you want to do that, feel 16 free to do it. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I don't want to do it. 18 I just want to move on. 19 JUDGE KELLY: I do not want this Resolution 20 to pass. This is divisive for this community. We have 21 got to come together as a community. This is not 22 helping. These social issues need to be handled 23 legislatively, not before Commissioners' Court. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Of course they do. And 25 this only is a Resolution, just like when we passed 18 1 something on the Courthouse lawn to make people aware of 2 domestic violence. It's a Resolution. That's all it 3 is. 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: It's nonbinding. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Nonbinding. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Well, I make a motion that we 7 rescind the vote from last week on this Resolution. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 9 JUDGE KELLY: So now we have discussion. 10 Are we going to take public input? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sure. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. I've got -- let me 13 count them here. Six -- six people are going to speak, 14 is that correct? Does anybody want to speak that has 15 not filled out their form and given it to the clerk? 16 Okay. Then the first person is Jerry Wolff. 17 MR. WOLFF: Well, we're back again. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, sir. 19 MR. WOLFF: Something that should have been 20 settled last meeting. 21 JUDGE KELLY: And I -- I apologize for that. 22 I should have voted against it and I didn't. 23 MR. WOLFF: I understand it was a procedural 24 error. I'm not as you -- well, I'm not paid to be, but 25 I'm not informed about the rules of how this Court 19 1 functions. This Court functions under Robert's Rules of 2 Law, does it not? 3 JUDGE KELLY: No, it does not. 4 MR. WOLFF: What does it function under? 5 JUDGE KELLY: It's got its own rules. 6 MR. WOLFF: You don't make them up as you 7 go? 8 JUDGE KELLY: Well, actually I'm not sure. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have -- we have 10 policies that we've adopted, but we're pretty open to 11 discussion. 12 MR. WOLFF: All right. And let me -- let me 13 quote Robert's Rules of Law, which probably lays the 14 foundation of how this Court functions, whether you do 15 it exactly to the letter, but it provides some very firm 16 and strict guidelines of how you -- how things should be 17 done in meetings. 18 According to Robert's Rule of Order, 19 Section 8, a motion to adopt the proposed Pro Life 20 Resolution was legally passed by a vote of two to one as 21 just mentioned by Commissioner Belew. The two 22 abstentions -- it was a majority here. There was a 23 quorum. The abstentions do not count. The vote of two 24 to one is a majority of the votes for two carries. 25 The Resolution was passed, and the minutes 20 1 of the previous meeting should be modified to reflect 2 such. And that should be done. I would think that you 3 would make a motion or you would give directions to the 4 city -- county coordinator or whoever is responsible for 5 the minutes that that meeting of the minutes of the 19th 6 will reflect that the motion passed. 7 I have to skip some paragraphs here, so 8 excuse me. If you desire then the Robert's Rule of 9 Order -- again, these are very good guidelines that this 10 Court should be following, so there is order in how you 11 conduct your business. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Wolff -- 13 MR. WOLFF: As a suggestion -- 14 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Wolff -- 15 MR. WOLFF: -- from a county citizen -- 16 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Wolff, I made a motion 17 that we abide by Robert's Rule of Order when we adopted 18 the policy. And this Court, by a vote of four to one, 19 decided not to follow Robert's Rules of Order. 20 MR. WOLFF: Okay. All right. 21 JUDGE KELLY: So that's kind of moot at this 22 point. 23 MR. WOLFF: All right. Wasn't aware of 24 that. But on the Robert's Rule of Law order, the motion 25 to reconsider that vote must be made by the prevailing 21 1 side, not from just anyone. Only those who voted on the 2 prevailing side. The two that voted "yes" have a right 3 to step forward and say this needs to be revoted. Those 4 who are on the non-prevailing side do not have a say-so. 5 Again, I want to reiterate -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry, your -- 7 MR. WOLFF: -- this resolution -- 8 JUDGE KELLY: -- your time is up. 9 MR. WOLFF: I can't have ten seconds? 10 JUDGE KELLY: I'm going to add ten seconds 11 to everybody out here? 12 MR. WOLFF: There's people that -- 13 JUDGE KELLY: What do you got? 14 MR. WOLFF: It's one minute. I just want to 15 remind you that this Resolution is not political. This 16 is -- this is about a right to life that transcends 17 governmental bodies. It's as elementary as it can get 18 about any right that any individual has. 19 My pastor this weekend at a church I was at 20 in Houston mentioned, you know what this is? This is a 21 statement saying I love life. It's exactly what it is. 22 (Holding up mask.) 23 JUDGE KELLY: I appreciate that. Thank you, 24 Mr. Wolff. 25 MR. WOLFF: Thank you. 22 1 JUDGE KELLY: Bill Morgan. 2 MR. MORGAN: I'm speaking in support of what 3 Jerry has just said. And then since it is just a 4 Resolution, it is not binding, but it is an expression 5 of the majority of the citizens of this County, I assure 6 you. Those are your constituents. Are you going to 7 stand up to your constituents and say you don't believe 8 in pro life? 9 JUDGE KELLY: I do believe in pro life. I 10 just don't believe it's County business. 11 MR. MORGAN: It is a statement by the 12 governing body stating that. As was the Supreme Court 13 decision, a governing body, in Roe versus Wade. 14 JUDGE KELLY: That was 47 years ago. And 15 this subject has been divided 50/50 ever since. 16 MR. MORGAN: That's right. But it is still 17 pro life. 18 JUDGE KELLY: But it's a political issue 19 that I don't want this Court to -- 20 MR. MORGAN: I disagree, sir. 21 JUDGE KELLY: I -- I respect your opinion. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Bill. 23 JUDGE KELLY: McKenna Hall. 24 MR. HALL: Good morning. My name is McKenna 25 Hall. I'm 18 years old, a Kerr County resident, and a 23 1 student at Schreiner University. I'm supporting making 2 Kerr County a sanctuary county for the unborn. As 3 moral, civilized people it is our duty to protect the 4 innocent life of pre-born babies. 5 As of 2017, the abortion holocaust has 6 murdered over 59 million babies. 59 million. That's a 7 whole lot more than Covid and look how we're responding 8 to that without any legislation, at least on the state 9 level. In one single year, there are more babies 10 murdered in the United States than all American wars 11 combined since 1775 through the year 2019. I don't know 12 about you, but I find that appalling. 13 How deprived is our society without these 14 precious and sacred lives lost to abortion. We would 15 not have had Leonardo Da Vinci, John Hancock, Babe Ruth, 16 Billy Holiday or Steve Jobs as their mothers decided to 17 abort them. You may find this -- may be fine with this 18 staggering culture of death happening on your watch, but 19 I am not okay with it happening on mine. 20 I also find it sickening that we had to take 21 this vote twice, especially when the whole Court has 22 declared themselves Republicans. Kerr County is 23 overwhelmingly pro life and it is our moral obligation 24 to protect the sanctity of life. It is not our place to 25 determine who lives and dies. Only God can do that. 24 1 Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, now says it's 2 not your body, it's not your choice because you got that 3 from God. He gave that to you. 4 I urge you to pass this Resolution and stand 5 up for those who have no voice. In 2020, we have been 6 surrounded by senseless murders and a deadly pandemic. 7 So now, more than ever, we need to return to a culture 8 of life. Thank you. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Thomas Jeffers. 10 MR. JEFFERS: Good morning. I've been here 11 before. You got me nervous, Judge. I do want to try to 12 change your heart. I really do. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Mr. Jeffers, my heart is 14 pro life. 15 MR. JEFFERS: No, I -- I don't mean it that 16 way. I know where you're heart is. Your -- your 17 decision that you're making. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Those -- how many million 19 babies did she say had been -- 20 MR. JEFFERS: 54. 21 JUDGE KELLY: 54 million. Not one 22 Commissioners' Court in this country had one thing to do 23 with any one of those. 24 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. I understand. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Not a one. 25 1 MR. JEFFERS: And here's what I want to 2 throw out at you. I know where your heart -- I know -- 3 I've been here. We're teenagers. And I've seen your 4 hearts. And I appreciate that. An infant at five and a 5 half to six weeks has a heartbeat. 6 As a pastor, every bed I've been at whenever 7 they tested the patients when the heart quit, the 8 patient's dead. Okay. And I know you understand that. 9 But here's my thing. If I can come in here, persuade 10 you to pass this Resolution, and another County passes 11 it, and another County passes the Resolution, if we just 12 save one life, if we just stand up and save one life, it 13 could be the doctor that does heart surgery on someone 14 who saves them down the road. 15 And as much as I respect you, sir, I have to 16 disagree with it not being the county's business because 17 it's everybody's business. And I think we have sit back 18 and said well, that's not our business. We don't want 19 to offend these folks, let's just be silent. But the 20 majority has been silent ever since Roe versus Wade. 21 There's only been a small group that has stood up and 22 fought back to no avail. 23 JUDGE KELLY: I beg to differ. I think 24 we're going to get a Supreme Court justice confirmed 25 today that is the result of four decades of work to have 26 1 that judicially reviewed. 2 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE KELLY: So I think we are going about 4 this the legal way. And I think it hasn't been just a 5 few people. I think the country is very divided over 6 this issue. 7 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE KELLY: And I think this county's very 9 divided over the issue. 10 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. 11 JUDGE KELLY: And I want to try to bring 12 people together and heal these divisions. 13 MR. JEFFERS: Right. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Not cram it down somebody 15 else's throat. 16 MR. JEFFERS: Well, and -- I don't 17 understand how we're cramming this down someone's 18 throat. It -- it's just saying that we believe in life. 19 We believe in pro life. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I do. I believe in it. But 21 I'm not going to vote for it because I don't think it's 22 good for the County. I don't think it's good for this 23 community to keep this going this way. I think we ought 24 -- my personal opinion is, I think we ought to vote for 25 Chip Roy. I really do. And I think this needs to be 27 1 fought out in Congress. And let the Supreme Court 2 review the legality of where we are. I want to do this 3 the legal way. There's nothing legal about what we're 4 going to do here today. 5 MR. JEFFERS: Well, I'm -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: We can't change a thing. 7 MR. JEFFERS: Yeah. I'm 62 and I've been 8 voting, like you say, to -- to resolve this issue or 9 even -- even make some headway and 2016 is the first 10 time we ever made any headway on it. And we're not -- 11 and if -- if you do the research, we're not making 12 headway. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And it may be over the end 14 line today. This very day. And so I won't go -- that's 15 very decisive. I will follow the rule of law. I want 16 to do this the right way. This Court can't do anything 17 about it? 18 MR. JEFFERS: You can't. No, sir. But you 19 can stand. I mean that's why I'm here, I'm standing. 20 JUDGE KELLY: I stand as an individual. 21 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. 22 JUDGE KELLY: I'm not going to stand as a 23 court, because we have no jurisdiction over this matter 24 whatsoever. My heart goes out to you. 25 MR. JEFFERS: Yes, sir. I understand. 28 1 JUDGE KELLY: To everyone. 2 MR. JEFFERS: I understand. Thank you, 3 guys. Appreciate ya. 4 JUDGE KELLY: This is hard. David Wagner. 5 MR. WAGNER: Good morning. I wear the mask, 6 but I don't enjoy it. You can guess my line of work 7 from how I look. I am the priest at Notre Dame Catholic 8 Church, just down the street from you. I was asked by 9 some of my parishioners to come and speak this morning 10 on this topic. I said to them, well, I think the best I 11 could do would just be to quote from the Catechism of 12 the Catholic Church on the topic of abortion. 13 And so from what I've heard you say so far 14 how you preface this matter and what you've said so far, 15 I think the best I can do is to just submit these 16 thoughts to the public record. These are several 17 paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 18 Paragraph 2270. Abortion. Human life must 19 be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of 20 conception. From the first moment of his existence, a 21 human being must be recognized as having the rights of a 22 person, among which is the enviable right of every 23 innocent being to life. 24 Paragraph 2271. Since the first century the 25 church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured 29 1 abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains 2 unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion 3 will either as an end or a means is gravely contrary to 4 the more law. 5 Paragraph 2272. Formal cooperation in an 6 abortion constitutes a grave offense. The church 7 catches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this 8 crime against human life. A person who procures a 9 completed abortion incurs excommunication by the very 10 commission of the offense and subject to the conditions 11 provided by canon law. The church does not thereby 12 intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she 13 makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the 14 irreparable harm done to the innocent who was put to 15 death, as well as to the parents and the whole of 16 society. 17 Paragraph 2273. The inalienable right to 18 life of every innocent human individual is a 19 constitutive element of a civil society and its 20 legislation. 21 Paragraph 2274. Since it must be treated 22 from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended 23 in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as 24 possible, like any other human being. 25 Lastly, paragraph 2275. One must hold as 30 1 licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which 2 respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not 3 involve disproportionate risks for it but are directed 4 toward its healing, the improvement of its condition of 5 health or it's individual survival. It is immoral to 6 produce human embryos intended for exploitation as 7 disposable biological material. 8 That is the teaching of the Catholic Church 9 on the topic of abortion, submitted for the public 10 record. Thank you. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Nathaniel Hall. I know the 12 neighbor. How you doing? 13 MR. HALL: Hello. I just wanted to say that 14 you were mentioning that you don't feel like it's the 15 Court's place to make a statement on this, whether or 16 not you should protect the baby. But I wanted to say 17 why is it your place to do this about Covid? Why should 18 you put in the mask mandate? Why should you restrict 19 businesses? Isn't it up to Congress then? I feel like 20 you could -- people would blame you saying, oh, you 21 didn't do anything so, therefore, you killed so and so 22 because you did not do anything. I feel it's the exact 23 same way about the unborn baby. 24 If you're not going to make a statement 25 saying we're going to protect them or not, people are 31 1 going to blame you still, that you -- you kill all these 2 babies. I'm not making a statement you are killing 3 them. You're allowing Planned Parenthood to come in 4 here and start killing off babies. Thank goodness we 5 have some facilities like the PRC, the Pregnancy 6 Resource Center, that are able to help people be 7 prepared to be parents properly. 8 But I feel like by you not making a 9 statement, it's still killing the babies. Even if you 10 feel like it's not your place. I feel it is. If you 11 feel you can do this with Covid, I feel you should be 12 able to do this with the sanctuary city for unborn 13 babies. Thank you. 14 JUDGE KELLY: I respect your opinion. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 16 JUDGE KELLY: Terry Hall. 17 MS. HALL: Good morning, y'all. Terry Hall. 18 Kerr County resident. You've heard from a couple of my 19 kids today, obviously. But I wanted to read to you from 20 the Republican Party platform. This is the Preamble. 21 Affirming our belief in God, we still hold these truths 22 to be self-evident. That all men are created equal. 23 That they are endowed by their creator with certain 24 unalienable rights. Unalienable. They're not given to 25 us by man so they can't be taken from us by man. They 32 1 are unalienable rights that among these are life. The 2 very first right. Right to life, liberty, and the 3 pursuit of happiness. 4 It later goes on to say, It is our -- excuse 5 me. It is our solemn duty to protect innocent lives, 6 and develop responsible citizens. In our core 7 principles as a party it lists: We, the 2020 Republican 8 Party of Texas, believe in this platform and expect our 9 elected leaders to uphold these truths through 10 acknowledgement and action. We believe in, it lists 11 several, here's the one on life. The sanctity of 12 innocent human life created in the image of God, which 13 should be protected from fertilization to natural death. 14 Just as a resolution is nonbinding in a legal sense, it 15 really isn't about jurisdiction or legal technicalities, 16 but rather a strong statement reflecting the deeply held 17 beliefs of the majority in our County, that life is 18 sacred and must be protected. 19 If you again fail to pass this Resolution, 20 we believe it's an invitation to Planned Parenthood to 21 come into our rural community and rip unborn babies limb 22 from limb through abortion on demand. This conflicts 23 with the fantastic work of the ladies at the Parenting 24 Resource Center who work tirelessly to protect unborn 25 babies from death and to provide support and 33 1 alternatives to abortion, encouraging women in crisis, 2 affirming their decision to keep their babies, and 3 equipping them to be good parents. 4 This Court affirms that we're a Second 5 Amendment Sanctuary County, but we're not going to 6 affirm the right to life itself? Passing this vital 7 Resolution, upholding the sanctity of life, and 8 providing a sanctity to the pre-born truly protects the 9 most vulnerable among us. Those who fail to protect 10 pre-born babies open the door to arbitrarily cutting 11 life short and end of life situations as well. It's a 12 slippery slope and few of us will be able to escape it 13 if we go down this road. 14 How you vote and what you affirm, either by 15 action or inaction, will speak volumes and either way we 16 will not forget. Thank you. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you, Ms. Hall. Any 18 other discussion? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I will go back to what 20 I said originally, it passed. Should have been 21 announced that it passed and we got it wrong last time. 22 There's really no reason to redo this other than that 23 you don't want it passed. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's correct. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. I just want to 34 1 make that clear. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And I also want to make it 3 clear that I am pro life. And I have never done 4 anything, nor will I ever do anything to take the life 5 of an unborn child. I just don't believe this is County 6 business. And I think we're getting outside -- coloring 7 outside the lines here. I think we need to stick to 8 running the County like we're supposed to and not get 9 involved and embroidered in these social issues. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, what -- I -- I 11 think the -- and Commissioner Belew brought it up as -- 12 and several people did. I think the minutes or the 13 court reporting or whatever needs to reflect that it did 14 pass. I think that -- that was not clear. So I think 15 we need to -- I don't know how we do that, Judge. 16 Reflect officially that it did pass. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we do a court 18 order later on. We can fix that. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. We can 20 fix that. The second thing is. I do personally support 21 everything that's been said here today. But I also 22 adhere to and believe in what the Judge said, it's not 23 County business, and it's -- and probably people say the 24 majority feel that way in the County. That's probably 25 true, but I don't know. I don't think anybody knows 35 1 that. Because there's -- there are a lot of Republicans 2 that -- that also feel the same way, that -- you know, 3 it's not a -- it's not an issue that should be brought 4 up or they may feel different about the right to life. 5 So I think it's not a County responsible -- or a 6 function, official function that even is a Resolution to 7 be brought up. So -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, well -- go ahead. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Well, I want to echo 10 some of the things that Thomas Jeffers said. You know, 11 it -- basically, you know, it's -- it starts here. I 12 said last week a thing starts one raindrop at a time. 13 And if we feel this way, and I feel confident that Kerr 14 County is a conservative County, the Hill Country is a 15 conservative area, and if we do this, then maybe 16 somebody has the courage to go across the county line 17 and to do it in their County. And all of a sudden you 18 have a nucleus of counties that's sending a message 19 uphill to our Chip Roy's, to our Andy Murr's, to our 20 Buckingham's, and say yeah, we come to all the 21 get-togethers, meet and greets here in Kerr County, this 22 is what these people are saying. And if we all of a 23 sudden start adding other counties to that, I think it's 24 a strong message. Because I -- I'm confident that's the 25 way the Hill Country feels. That's why we live here. 36 1 Most of us. Because we're a conservative community. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Anyway, my comment, I 3 said it last time. I support the Resolution personally. 4 My abstention was exactly what I think, I don't think we 5 should really vote on this. And I have no problem with 6 the last Resolution passing. I'm not -- it doesn't 7 bother me. It's just a personal feeling that I didn't, 8 you know, think we needed to vote for it even though I 9 do certainly support personally the issue. However, I 10 may change my vote today. I may change. Because I 11 don't -- I don't mind -- I really don't like the fact 12 it's back on the agenda. I think it passed. And I 13 think we made an error procedurally. And I was fine 14 with that, with it passing. 15 Even though I believe -- I can't remember 16 the details of the meeting and how it went and what we 17 said. But anyway, I think it is important to do pass on 18 other Resolutions that are similar, and for that reason 19 I'll probably vote for it. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Any other discussion? 21 The motion that we have on the table is to rescind the 22 passage of the proposal last week. Well, this would 23 be -- if we take the vote, if you vote yes it's to pass 24 the motion to rescind. So those in favor of my 25 motion -- 37 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait, wait, Judge. To 2 rescind the passage? 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: To rescind the Court 4 Order. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's to -- it's to -- 6 JUDGE KELLY: To rescind the Court Order. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: To rescind the Court 8 Order. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To correct the Court 10 order. 11 JUDGE KELLY: No. 12 MRS. DOWDY: I have to rescind the Court 13 Order, in parenthesis number inadvertently not signed, 14 making Item Number 1.1 in Commissioners' Court agenda 15 held 10-19-2020, and to correct the minutes taken on 16 said item. I was just kind of taking notes of what the 17 Court was -- 18 JUDGE KELLY: That would be -- the minutes 19 of the meeting are the minutes of the meeting. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's not rescinding; 21 it's to correct the vote which was that it passed by two 22 to one. 23 MRS. DOWDY: Well, that's -- that is what -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's not my motion. My 25 motion is to revote it. That's what's on the agenda is 38 1 to revote. Because I want to -- 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, we have to -- we 3 haven't dealt with the original issue of the fact that 4 it passed. That was never even announced in Court, or 5 the Court order dealt with, to correct it. We're going 6 to vote against it before we get it corrected if we do 7 that. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. I think we have 9 to remove the previous action before you can -- 10 MRS. STEBBINS: I think -- 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The vote was the vote. 12 MRS. STEBBINS: Y'all, I think it passed. 13 It passed. So on -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It passed. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It did pass. 16 MRS. STEBBINS: So -- 17 JUDGE KELLY: We all know that. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We acknowledge that. 19 MRS. STEBBINS: So I don't think you have to 20 take any additional action to make sure that it passed. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But it was announced in 22 Court that it didn't pass. 23 MRS. STEBBINS: Right. And -- that's right. 24 JUDGE KELLY: That's correct. And that 25 was -- 39 1 MRS. STEBBINS: But it passed anyway. 2 Nonetheless. Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And by the way, it did 4 pass -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you're saying -- 6 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and nothing drastic 7 happened in Kerr County in the interim, did it? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And you don't think we 9 need to clarify the statement that was in the Court that 10 it failed? 11 MRS. STEBBINS: I think that that's been 12 done sufficiently at this meeting, just on the -- in the 13 public record. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it's going to 15 always be there. I think -- I think there's nothing 16 wrong with correcting that. You know, a correction 17 that -- that it passed. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: You'll -- it's -- during 19 today's meeting at the end of the meeting what I believe 20 that Jonathan and Jackie have both now nodded yes is 21 that you have the order that you'll approve from the 22 last meeting. Is that right? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 MRS. DOWDY: I don't -- I didn't -- I didn't 25 submit one. 40 1 MRS. STEBBINS: For today? Okay. So -- 2 MRS. DOWDY: From last week. I did not 3 submit one. So the number was inadvertently not signed. 4 There's still an order, just -- it's not -- 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you're saying 6 clarify with that? 7 MRS. STEBBINS: I think that it could be 8 clarified with that, that it's accurate that it passed. 9 And then -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: -- if y'all choose to 12 rescind it following the motion and the second, then 13 that's a separate action. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 15 MRS. STEBBINS: I think that's okay. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: But to make it clear so no one 18 votes -- gets confused in their vote. My motion is to 19 rescind what we did last week. So if you vote for it, 20 then that would be to rescind what passed last week. If 21 you vote against it, what happened last week, you want 22 it to stand as is. Is that clear? 23 MRS. STEBBINS: I think that's clear. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So I'm going to call 25 for a vote. Those in favor of my motion to rescind what 41 1 we passed last week, raise your hand. 2 (Judge Kelly and Commissioner Moser.) 3 Those opposed raise your hand. 4 (Commissioners Belew, Letz and Harris.) 5 JUDGE KELLY: Three two. 6 (Applause.) 7 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.3 consider, discuss and 8 take appropriate action to accept the OOG, Office of the 9 Governor, Grant Award for the Kerr County Victims' 10 Services Department. Ms. Peter. 11 MS. PETER: Good morning. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Good morning. Welcome back. 13 MS. PETER: Thank you. I'm before you today 14 to ask that you allow the Judge to sign the grant that 15 you have previously voted on, the VOCA Grant, which 16 funds Victims' Services in Kerr County. We were 17 approved officially. But in order to accept the money, 18 the Judge will need to respond and approve that. It's 19 electronic. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So move. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 23 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew, to 24 approve the VOCA Grant and allow me to sign it. Any 25 other discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 42 1 Unanimous. Thank you. 2 MS. PETER: Thank you, gentlemen. 3 JUDGE KELLY: 1.4 consider, discuss and take 4 appropriate action to accept the CESF Grant, which is 5 the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding grant, in 6 the amount of $30,000.00. Ms. Graff. 7 MS. GRAFF: Hello. So we applied for this 8 back in June. It's from the Office of the Governor. 9 It's for $30,000.00. We plan on using these funds for 10 PPE, officer time spent working security at the Hill 11 Country Youth Event Center when it was operating as a 12 testing site, and then something admin needs for 13 employees of the Sheriff's office and jail, and this 14 grant period ends on January 31st, 2021. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I have a question, 16 Callie. How does this differ from the other monies that 17 we've received? 18 MS. GRAFF: This is from the Office of the 19 Governor. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Because of the source? 21 MS. GRAFF: Yes. Because of the source. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Move for approval. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 43 1 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 2 approve the CESF grant in the amount of $30,000.00. Any 3 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 4 five zero. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thanks, Callie. 6 MS. GRAFF: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: 1.5 consider, discuss and take 8 appropriate action to declare IT items as surplus. Mr. 9 Robles. 10 MR. ROBLES: Good morning. In your backup 11 you should have a list of the items that IT wishes to 12 declare surplus. They're computers, keyboards, monitors 13 and various wires and parts. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I move we declare the 15 listed items surplus. 16 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Wires and gadgets? 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, if you look at 18 the back of it, it's Greek to me. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 21 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 22 approve the surplus items from the IT department. Any 23 discussions? Those in favor raise your hand. 24 Unanimous, five zero. Thank you. 25 Skip -- we've already done 1.6. Let's go to 44 1 1.7 consider, discuss and take appropriate action 2 regarding the Interlocal Agreement for the Hill Country 3 Regional Public Defender's Office. And are y'all all 4 right if I call 1.8 too, do them at the same time? It's 5 consider, discuss and take appropriate action to ratify 6 and confirm Oversight Board Membership and Policies for 7 Hill Country Regional Public Defender's Office. And I 8 saved 1.9 to handle separately. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Even -- even if this is 10 done, it can be amended at some point, right? 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. And just to kind of give 12 you an overview of basically -- let me start by thanking 13 our local committee, our Kerr County committee. 14 Commissioner Letz and I met with them numerous times. 15 They did an outstanding job of protecting the County's 16 interest as we bring in a 31-employee department into 17 the County. 18 And I'll also say that the recommendations 19 from our local committee were not always immediately 20 approved. But we stood our ground. And we have every 21 safeguard and protection that the committee recommended 22 approved by the Texas Independent Defense Commission and 23 the other four counties. And by way of information, the 24 other four County Judges and I were in complete 25 agreement and stood together to make sure that each one 45 1 of the items that are included in these organizational 2 documents were approved. 3 So this was -- this was not without 4 opposition, and it was not without some effort to get it 5 done. Basically, what we're going to have is a board 6 that will oversee this department. It will be an 11 7 member board and there will be two representatives from 8 each County, except Kerr County that will have three 9 members on that Board. And for obvious reasons, because 10 this is our department and we have to be responsible for 11 taking care of it. 12 In the case of the -- and basically, this 13 Court hires and fires the chief public defender who then 14 runs the office. But it is still an oversight board. 15 It's not a hands-on day-to-day micro management board. 16 But it is a board that will oversee the entire 17 operations of that department. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Has it been determined 19 how often they'll meet? 20 JUDGE KELLY: The Board? 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Uh-huh? 22 JUDGE KELLY: It says a minimum of 23 quarterly, we're anticipating at least monthly. Maybe 24 twice monthly. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: At least at the 46 1 beginning. 2 JUDGE KELLY: We're trying to have our 3 organizational meeting next week, so we are -- we're up 4 and running as of next week. But what I wanted to 5 emphasize about the 11-person board, we have super 6 majority that are required for certain things. So when 7 it comes to hiring and firing the Chief Public Defender, 8 the super majority is that we have to have seven of the 9 11 board members. And let me clarify that of those 11 10 board members, five of them are permanent members. And 11 that is one from each County. And for -- it could 12 either be the County Judge or the Commissioners' Court 13 designee. It will be a permanent member of that board. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge? 15 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: On that point, I was 17 just thinking about it. I was actually thinking back to 18 before I was a Commissioner, it was a long time ago. 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: A real long time ago. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Long time. If -- the 21 way I read that, the Commissioners' Court can override 22 that it be a County Judge. Is that how you read that? 23 JUDGE KELLY: It's not necessarily override. 24 It's just that Commissioners' Court is going to be the 25 one who elect these board members. 47 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 2 JUDGE KELLY: And later on in the agenda, 3 1.9 is to elect three members to that Board. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And what I'm going to 5 and we've talked a lot and I've mentioned this at the 6 local meetings and in the meetings with some of the 7 other judges that, you know, I've got total confidence 8 in our current five judges, but I think of a time when 9 we had a current Judge here, it was in the early -- 10 JUDGE KELLY: We all remember. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, right. Late '80s 12 I think is when it was. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Mid '90. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Mid '90s? 15 JUDGE KELLY: I moved here in 1993 and met 16 him before he was in office. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Anyway, I want to 18 make it clear that the -- if that situation arises in 19 any county the Commissioners' Court can not have the 20 County Judge. I think the County Judge is the logical 21 person to serve, but there needs to be a provision that 22 the Commissioners' Court can overrule the County Judge. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Correct. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I thought it said it 25 doesn't have to be a County Judge, it can -- 48 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. It doesn't. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- be appointed by the 3 other. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Right. In fact, and I -- and 5 our County Attorney is the one that helped me with this 6 language, the original draft that we got back from TIDC 7 was to be a county judge picked through that permanent 8 members of the board and we don't want that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 11 JUDGE KELLY: We want the Commissioners' 12 Court in each County to pick who the permanent members 13 are going to be and then who the other members are going 14 to be. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. That's how I read 17 it but I wanted to make sure that that's how -- it's on 18 the record that that's what the intent is at least for 19 our county. 20 JUDGE KELLY: And so getting back to the 21 super majority I was telling you about, the seven of 11, 22 three of those votes have to be permanent members. So 23 you've got to have three of the five permanent members. 24 And the purpose for that is for the counties to 25 ultimately have a say in what we're doing. And it's the 49 1 County Commissioners' Courts that will have the say. So 2 we have three of the five permanent members, a total of 3 seven of the 11 board members. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When you say permanent 5 member, what does permanent mean? 6 JUDGE KELLY: They're going to be three-year 7 terms. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 9 JUDGE KELLY: But the permanent member means 10 that the County -- that County -- each County will 11 always have that member of the board. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And -- and we'll call it 14 permanent because they're the Court. If you don't get a 15 majority of them, you can't do anything. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Permanent to me, 17 you think about the Supreme Court. That's permanent. 18 This is not a -- permanent in the same sense. 19 JUDGE KELLY: No. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, it's not. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: So what you mean is 22 when -- the super majority has to be those permanent 23 members? 24 JUDGE KELLY: Three of them. 25 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Three of those. 50 1 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 3 JUDGE KELLY: And so if you don't -- if -- 4 if somebody wants to fire the chief public defender and 5 you've only got two permanent members, even though you 6 might have all the other members, it's not enough. 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 8 JUDGE KELLY: You've got to convince the 9 majority of the -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It keeps control in the 11 Commissioners' Courts. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: And the whole thing is geared 14 to exclusively have the ultimate control in the five 15 Commissioners' Courts. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 JUDGE KELLY: That's where it is. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Now the other six members, 20 there are recommendations that people can put on the 21 Board. We need to have an attorney that's an active -- 22 been an experienced criminal defense lawyer. We need to 23 have a County Judge. We need to have a Commissioner, 24 that goes without saying. 25 It's recommended that we have a community 51 1 representative. It's recommended that we have someone 2 who has worked for a governmental agency or a non-profit 3 that has assisted the indigent. It is recommended 4 that -- what are the other categories? What am I 5 leaving out. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Non-profit. Criminal 7 law. Commissioners' Court. Judge. 8 MRS. STEBBINS: Someone who's been -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Indigent defense client. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Oh, yeah. That -- that was 11 the one we struggled with. Someone who has been a 12 client of our Public Defender's Office or a family 13 member. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 15 JUDGE KELLY: So we're going more towards 16 family member right now, because we don't have anybody 17 that we've represented, so -- but that was in the 18 interest of diversity. And all of those are categories 19 that we may fill. We're not required to fill them. 20 But -- 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we get -- we get 22 three people on the Board? 23 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Right. We'll talk about that 52 1 here in just a second. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: When or where are the 3 duties and responsibilities of the public defender 4 delineated? 5 JUDGE KELLY: In the job description that we 6 posted. We approved that -- 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Which says budget, 8 hiring, firing, all that? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's actually the 10 statute. It's in the statute. And then pretty much we 11 model at least after the statute. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We tracked the statute word 14 for word. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's similar to the 16 Airport Board, they prepare a budget, bring it here or 17 they bring it to the oversight board for approval. 18 JUDGE KELLY: That's a good -- that's a good 19 comparison. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Very similar. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: So the first one we've got is 24 the Interlocal Agreement. This is the one that all five 25 counties sign, and this is -- with that, we have an 53 1 attachment in Exhibit A, which has our percentages. And 2 this is how we will allocate sharing expenses. 3 You can see that we've got -- we're the 4 largest. We've got -- and this is on the basis of case 5 count with the office of court administration. And that 6 will be updated annually. We will revisit case counts 7 on a year by year basis and allocate responsibility for 8 expenses accordingly. 9 The Kerr County has 38 percent. Kendall 10 County has 14.8 percent. Gillespie County has 15.2 11 percent. Medina County has 22 percent, and Bandera 12 County has 10 percent. And if you -- if we approve this 13 today, and if all the other Commissioners' Courts this 14 week are working on approving this same Interlocal 15 Agreement, this will be what would authorize us to enter 16 into the agreement with them, and we will be the host 17 County for the office. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Now, our part is nearly 19 $238,000 -- 20 JUDGE KELLY: Yes, sir. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- and this is all paid 22 for with the grant on -- at this point? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 80 percent. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I mean 80 percent is 25 what I meant. Thank you. Our portion. 54 1 JUDGE KELLY: That is our portion for the 2 matching grant, for the 20 percent. 3 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That's the 20 percent? 4 JUDGE KELLY: That's our 20 percent. The 5 grant is for over two and a half million dollars. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we're paying -- 7 COMMISSIONER BELEW: This is -- this is not 8 just for one year -- I mean, this is the amount for one 9 year but the grant goes more than one year. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we get -- we apply for 11 the grant annually. The first -- the first year is 12 80/20. 13 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But we can continue to 14 get this annually? 15 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, two, three and four are 16 two-thirds, one-third. 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But eventually, we -- 18 we get pushed out of the nest. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Right. But our -- I think our 20 indigent -- indigent attorney defense is, what, about 21 700,000 in the budget? 22 MRS. SHELTON: I believe that's right. 23 Something like that. 24 JUDGE KELLY: So this is -- it's 25 significant. So this year we -- we benefit from that. 55 1 But it will catch up with us. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: But I want everybody to 3 know this is mandated -- 4 JUDGE KELLY: Oh yeah. Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER BELEW: -- this is not 6 something Kerr County cooked up, we've got to do this. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we either do it the way 8 that we're doing it, which is Kerr County pays the whole 9 $700,000, or we team up with the state and the other 10 counties and save us money by pooling our resources. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And them as well. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're changing the way 13 we provide the service. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: It seems like a smart 15 way to do it. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it's saving -- this 17 method -- certainly for the short term being the next 18 five years, I think it will save us huge amounts of 19 money, and we believe it will long term. 20 JUDGE KELLY: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So that's -- 22 JUDGE KELLY: Now, that's the Interlocal 23 Agreement. The next one I have there is the oversight 24 board membership and policies document. And for all 25 practical purposes, just think of this as what would 56 1 normally be bylaws. Because that's what it is. 2 And this is how we're going to run the 3 oversight committee, the oversight board, and this is -- 4 this is where -- if you're looking for the devil in the 5 details, this is it. The Interlocal Agreement is just a 6 broad general agreement that all five counties agree to 7 work together to share the expenses that way. This is 8 where the how-to's are determined. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: The shall's and the 10 may's. 11 JUDGE KELLY: Yes. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I see a slight 13 conflict in the language in here. Under term of office, 14 the first line reads permanent members remain on the 15 Board for the duration of their service in their 16 respected offices. Yet under the membership, the 17 permanent members can be a Commissioners' Court designee 18 and does not have to be an elected official. And I 19 think in Kendall County it is not an elected official. 20 So he doesn't have a respective office. 21 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Doesn't this mean 22 elected to this office? Isn't that what that wording 23 means here? That's what it looks like to me. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But permanent members 25 should remain on the Board for the duration of their 57 1 service in their respective offices. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yeah, I -- I relate it 3 to like it was one of the Commissioners. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the intent from four 5 of the counties that it will be an elected official, but 6 Kendall County currently plans to elect a -- an 7 attorney, their general counsel, I believe. 8 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. I talked to Judge Lux 9 about that. But then he would have to be reappointed, 10 and be redesignated. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean I think -- I 12 mean, it can be gotten around internally because you can 13 remove the person because of the intent is, but it's a 14 little bit of a conflict when I read it. 15 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, you -- you're 16 going to -- well, the people that get on this Board, 17 will they take some kind of oath? Is that a term in 18 office or -- 19 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. So is that 21 language then not about that specific office, that's the 22 way I read it. 23 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we have the three-year 24 terms. 25 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: If -- if -- the way I 58 1 see it is if it's a Commissioner and after two -- he 2 starts and then two years later he doesn't get reelected 3 then they will need to put somebody else. 4 JUDGE KELLY: Well, we put some thought in 5 this because as it turns out, four of the five County 6 Judges are not running for reelection. So we know we're 7 going to have some new faces. So we tried to anticipate 8 that. And how we're going to deal with it. 9 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Couldn't you also have 10 a County Judge that did not want to serve on it? 11 JUDGE KELLY: I do. We have one. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have one. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Judge Lux in Kendall County 14 does not want to serve on it. He's counting 26 months 15 and I can't remember how many days. But I can't talk -- 16 I cannot call him without him telling me exactly how 17 many days he has left. Days and months. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I presume this 19 is before all the other counties today, just about? 20 JUDGE KELLY: I don't know if it's today. 21 Whatever their Commissioners' Court day is -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Probably should be 23 today. Today's regular -- 24 JUDGE KELLY: No. Medina -- Medina's 25 already passed it. They passed it last Thursday. 59 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's easier to 2 leave it the way it is and they can re-adjust it -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: If they have to. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- that language if it 5 needs to be. 6 JUDGE KELLY: But what I was going to share 7 with the Court and with the public is three of us, three 8 of the County Judges, myself, and Judge Schuchart from 9 Medina County, and Judge Evans from Bandera County, have 10 committed to stay on this Board regardless of whether or 11 not we're in office for at least another year. Maybe 12 two. Whatever it takes to get this thing -- get all the 13 bugs worked out to get it operating smoothly. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And that -- and this 15 wording makes provision for that? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The Commissioners' Court 17 is going to appoint them. I mean, we can appoint Judge 18 Kelly, if he decides not to run again, because he's 19 helped set this thing up so he's going to be stuck with 20 it. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Well, the three of us are 23 primarily the ones that have worked on this the most 24 anyway. The others have been very cooperative and 25 contributed, but the three of us have basically done it. 60 1 We -- we're the ones rolling up our sleeves to get it 2 done. And it's kind of like our baby. We want to make 3 sure that it can walk and run before we get off the 4 Board. 5 And not to keep you in suspense, we're going 6 to get to 1.9 here in a minute. But I've agreed to 7 serve on this Board, as Commissioner Letz has also. And 8 we have approached retired Judge Keith Williams, our 9 retired District Judge, to serve. So, just so you know 10 what we're trying to do here. 11 So with that, I'm going to make a motion 12 that we approve the Interlocal Agreement to enter into 13 with the other four counties for the Hill Country 14 Regional Public Defender's Office. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 16 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion, seconded by 17 Commissioner Harris. Is there any discussion about the 18 Interlocal Agreement? 19 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Just that the County 20 Attorney has reviewed it and all that? 21 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. 23 JUDGE KELLY: She's more than reviewed it. 24 Okay. All those in favor raise your hand. 25 The Interlocal Agreement is approved. 61 1 I now make a motion that we approve the Hill 2 Country Regional Public Defender's Office Oversight 3 Board Membership and Policies document. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Second. 5 JUDGE KELLY: I made the motion, seconded by 6 Commissioner Moser to approve the Oversight Board 7 Membership and Policies of the Hill Country Regional 8 Public Defender's Office. And -- yeah, I made the 9 motion, you seconded -- Commissioner Moser seconded. Is 10 there any discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. 11 Unanimous, five zero. 12 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Can we take a quick 13 break? 14 JUDGE KELLY: Let's just do 1.9. 15 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. 16 JUDGE KELLY: 1.9 is to consider, discuss 17 and take appropriate action to appoint three Kerr County 18 representatives to serve on the Hill Country Regional 19 Public Defender's Office Oversight Board. And the three 20 that we're recommending are myself, Commissioner Letz, 21 and Judge Williams. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I'll move for approval. 23 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 24 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 25 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 62 1 approve myself, and Commissioner Letz, and Judge 2 Williams to serve on the Hill Country Regional Public 3 Defender's Office Oversight Board. Any discussion? 4 Those in favor raise your hand. Five zero, unanimous. 5 Let's take a ten-minute break. Let's come 6 back at 10:15. 7 (Recess.) 8 JUDGE KELLY: The Court will come back to 9 order. Had a busy morning. Hopefully it'll be a little 10 more calm this session. Item 1.10 public hearing 11 regarding setting the speed limit to 35 miles an hour on 12 Cade Loop South. Precinct 4. 13 This is a public meeting. I'm convening the 14 public meeting. Is there anybody present who would like 15 to speak on the speed limit on Cade Loop South? There 16 being none, then the public hearing is adjourned. 17 So I have 1.11 consider, discuss and take 18 appropriate action for the Commissioners' Court final 19 approval regarding the speed limit of 35 miles an hour 20 on Cade Loop South. Kelly Hoffer. 21 MS. HOFFER: Good morning. Cade Loop South 22 has never had a posted speed limit, according to our 23 records. We placed traffic counters out on Cade Loop 24 South in two locations from 8-14-2020 to 8-21-2020. The 25 counters were placed under the direction of the County 63 1 Engineer. 2 One counter showed the 85th percentile of 34 3 miles an hour, and the other counter showed the 85th 4 percentile of 36 miles per hour. Under the guidance of 5 the County Engineer, we feel the posted speed limit 6 should be 35 miles an hour on Cade Loop South. 7 At this time, I ask the Commissioners' Court 8 for their final approval regarding setting the posted 9 speed limit on Cade Loop South to 35 miles an hour. 10 This is in Precinct 4. 11 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 14 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 15 set the speed limit to 35 miles an hour on Cade Loop 16 South. Is there any discussion? 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I think this just 18 makes sense. It's kind of a no-brainer. Everything 19 just came together and proved what you wanted, so that's 20 all I have to say. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Question, what was the 22 high speed in your study? I wondered how the 80th 23 percentile -- I know that's the rule we go by, but I was 24 wondering if there were some people that were -- 25 JUDGE KELLY: There's only a couple of 64 1 stretches in that road that you can go over 35. 2 MS. HOFFER: Yeah, I mean it -- 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why -- 4 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: And they were all 5 teenagers. 6 MS. HOFFER: They're showing anywhere from 7 15.3 to 55.4 on one of the counters. 8 JUDGE KELLY: I'm not even sure we can go 55 9 there. 10 MS. HOFFER: No. I'd like to know where. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They're in the ditch. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Or should be. Or will 13 be. 14 MS. HOFFER: Yeah. The fastest speed was 15 55. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Just curious. 17 Thank you. 18 JUDGE KELLY: There being no other 19 discussion, those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 20 five zero. 21 MS. HOFFER: Thank you. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Item 1.12 consider, discuss 23 and take appropriate action for the Court to approve the 24 revision of the plat for Kerrville South 2, Tract 119. 25 Charlie Hastings. 65 1 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. We held a public 2 hearing on this several weeks ago and -- but the plat 3 wasn't a hundred percent ready yet to sign. I think the 4 big issue at the moment -- at that time was that we were 5 looking for the water availability proof, and we do have 6 that now. 7 This proposal does divide Tract 119 into two 8 tracts and there is right-of-way being dedicated along 9 Codrington Drive and Kerrville South Drive. Tract 119A 10 will be 2.54 acres and have access from Kerrville South 11 Drive. Tract 119B will be 2.53 acres -- I don't know if 12 that's checking out, and will have access from 13 Codrington Drive. A public hearing for this revision 14 was held on September the 14th, 2020. 15 As I mentioned, the proof of water 16 availability is attached in your packet. The County 17 Engineer requests the Court approve the revision of plat 18 for Kerrville South, Tract 119, Volume 4, Page 64. 19 Precinct 1. 20 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 21 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 22 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 23 Commissioner Belew, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 24 approve the plat for Kerrville South 2, Tract 119. Any 25 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 66 1 five zero. 2 Item 1.13 consider, discuss and take 3 appropriate action for the Court to formally reject 4 Contracts 2 and 3 for Phase II, and Contract 2 for 5 Phase 3 of the East Kerr County Center Point Wastewater 6 Project. Charlie Hastings. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. Phase 2, Contract 8 No. 2 for services, septic tank mitigation, and 9 subsidiary work funded by the Colonia Economically 10 Distressed Areas Program administered by the Texas 11 Department of Agriculture. This is Texas CDBG 12 No. 7217045, and we're talking about Contract 2 for 13 Phase II. 14 And Contract 3 for Phase II was for 15 services -- service connection, septic tank mitigation, 16 and subsidiary work funded by the Colonia Fund for 17 Construction, the CFC, administered by TDA, that's 18 TxCDBG No. 7218045. So those are Contracts 2 and 3 for 19 Phase II. 20 Phase III has Contract 2 only for service 21 connections, septic tank mitigation, and subsidiary work 22 funded by the Colonia Fund for Construction, the CFC, 23 administered by Texas Department of Agriculture, TDA, 24 TxCDBG No. 7218055. 25 The funds from the Texas Department of 67 1 Agriculture are grant funds to connect low to moderate 2 income households to the project. After analyzing the 3 bids, the number of confirmed low to moderate income 4 households is not sufficient to spend down the entire 5 amount currently granted by TDA for this project. 6 The project team needs additional time to 7 perform additional outreach to the low to moderate 8 income households in the project area, which is ongoing, 9 if they exist, to better define the budget for this 10 portion of the work. 11 Therefore, the project team recommends that 12 the Court reject Contracts No. 2 and 3 of Phase II, and 13 Contract No. 2 of Phase III, for the East Kerr County 14 Center Point Wastewater Project. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Just for clarification, 16 this wasn't any problem with the bids. The bids were 17 good. 18 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But the -- if we follow 20 through on these contracts, it's going to leave us with 21 funds that will be short -- I mean, that we'll not be 22 spending all the funds from TDA, the Texas Department of 23 Agriculture? 24 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We need more time to 68 1 get people to respond to the fact that they are low to 2 moderate income families, and we can increase the 3 services, so it's -- it's not a good thing for the 4 contract that was submitted bids. Costly for them to do 5 it, but it's the right and necessary thing to do so I 6 move for approval. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. I think we need 8 to be real clear. I think it -- the order needs to be 9 very clear that Contract No. 2, TxCDBG No. 721705(sic), 10 Contract 3, both under Phase II. TDA Contract 11 721805(sic), and then under Phase III, Contract No. 2 12 7218055, and accept that as an amendment to the -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Sure. I accept that. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- specific -- 15 MR. HASTINGS: I may have misheard on that 16 Contract 3 for Phase II, it's -- just to be clear, it's 17 7218045. I think I heard something different. I just 18 wanted to make sure that was clear -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 21 MR. HASTINGS: -- for the record. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which one is that one? 23 MR. HASTINGS: That would be Contract No. 3, 24 Phase II, yes, sir. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Y'all got the numbers, right? 69 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll give them to -- 2 it's the ones that are listed on the back of it is 3 correct. 4 JUDGE KELLY: So the motion's been made by 5 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 6 approve -- to formally reject Contracts 2 and 3 for 7 Phase II, and formally reject Contract 2 for Phase III. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Correct. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Is that correct? And this is 10 of the East Kerr County/Center Point Wastewater Project. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Correct. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Any other discussion? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The other comment -- and 14 Charlie, will have a negative effect from the standpoint 15 of applying for funds in the future with TDA, correct? 16 If we reject these, does it not have some -- I mean, we 17 can't go back and reapply for these? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, it won't be a 19 negative. 20 MR. HASTINGS: No, I -- I think that there's 21 some other things that are going to cause what you're 22 saying. This doesn't. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Oh, okay. 24 MR. HASTINGS: This -- this needed to 25 happen. 70 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. This is just a 2 rejection but there's some other -- 3 MR. HASTINGS: There's some other things 4 that cropped up that we're not going to talk about right 5 now. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 9 MR. HASTINGS: But overall, you do need to 10 know that there's plenty of grant funds so it shouldn't 11 be a problem. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: All right. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. So with that, those in 14 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 15 And before Charlie and Kelly get away, one 16 of the things I noted out at the Youth Event Center. 17 There's -- we have -- there's a safety issue out at the 18 entrance. And we're wondering whether or not -- we've 19 got that caution sign that we can put up, that flashing 20 sign. Is there a way to possibly looking at putting 21 that out at the Youth Event Center to slow voters down 22 as they approach that entrance? It would help a lot. 23 COMMISSIONER BELEW: We -- it can even have 24 a message on it. 25 MR. HASTINGS: Absolutely. 71 1 COMMISSIONER BELEW: That thing can say 2 whatever. 3 MS. HOFFER: You guys just show me what 4 location, what message you want on it, I can -- I can 5 get it out there. 6 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We'll follow up. You 7 will be hearing from Jody. 8 MS. HOFFER: Okay. If it's in the text, if 9 it's -- if you guys are wanting that, then it's put into 10 TxDOT right away. I guess we'll need to give them over 11 to TxDOT and make sure that it's okay with them. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Okay. But the issue is 13 inside the parking lot. 14 MS. HOFFER: Inside the -- 15 JUDGE KELLY: But we want it before you get 16 to the cutout. So it would be on TxDOT, right? 17 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Yeah. Right. 18 MS. HOFFER: So if Jody just sends that to 19 me I can forward it to Troy and make sure everything 20 is -- 21 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sorry. I know that's -- 22 it's not on the agenda but it's -- 23 MS. HOFFER: That's okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: -- housekeeping business. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Charlie, can you -- 72 1 under our department head portion, are you going to give 2 us an update as to where we are on the bidding? Can you 3 just go over -- 4 MR. HASTINGS: Oh, absolutely. I can do 5 that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If you would, I would 7 appreciate it. 8 MR. HASTINGS: At the appropriate time. 9 Yes, sir. 10 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. Let's go through the 11 Approval Agenda. 2.1 pay the bills. 12 MRS. SHELTON: Good morning. 13 JUDGE KELLY: We got some bills today. 14 MRS. SHELTON: Just a few. Invoices for 15 Kerrville Today for Treasurer's disbursement includes 16 $180,786.85 for Kerr County. $228.58 for the Airport. 17 Those are for the last fiscal year of 19/20. 18 For this fiscal year, Kerr County, 19 $580,609.86. The Airport, $957.47. Adult Probation, 20 $12,649.18. The County Clerk fees, $28.00. And the 21 198th DA Forfeiture, $1,548 -- $4.28. 22 THE REPORTER: Repeat that last one. 23 MRS. SHELTON: $1,544.28. 24 THE REPORTER: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Move we pay the bills 73 1 as presented by the Auditor. 2 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 3 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 4 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 5 pay the bills as presented. Any discussion? Those in 6 favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 7 Budget amendments? 8 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Late bills? 10 MRS. SHELTON: We have one. It's for 11 $450,388.00. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: I move for approval. 13 JUDGE KELLY: That's on the closing this 14 afternoon? We have a closing this afternoon on the Earl 15 Garrett property. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Good. Move for 17 approval. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Second. 19 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 20 Commissioner Moser, seconded by Commissioner Letz to 21 approve the late bills as presented. Those in favor 22 raise your hand. Opposed? Unanimous, five zero. 23 Auditor reports. 24 MRS. SHELTON: There are not any. 25 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 74 1 Monthly reports. 2 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Yes. For September 3 2020, standard monthly report from Constable Precinct 3, 4 Ken Wilke. Fines, judgments, and jury fees collected, 5 J.P. 4, Bill Ragsdale. County Treasurer's monthly 6 report, Tracy Soldan. Animal Control Services, Director 7 Reagan Givens. Environmental Health, OSSF Director, 8 Ashli Badders. Indigent Services. HR Director, 9 Jennifer Doss. And Kerr County Investment Report for 10 third quarter ending September 30th, 2020, County 11 Treasurer, Tracy Soldan. I move for approval. 12 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Second. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 14 Commissioner Harris, seconded by Commissioner Belew to 15 approve the monthly reports as presented. Is there any 16 discussion? Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, 17 five zero. 18 Court orders. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, we have the Court 20 Orders from our October 19th meeting, 2020. Court 21 Orders No. 38394 through 38402. 22 Does the rest of the court get copies of 23 these? 24 MRS. DOWDY: They didn't get that one I 25 handed you. 75 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. Let me read the 2 one that was the discussion this morning at length. Let 3 me just read that one so everyone's familiar. 4 Came to be heard this 19th day of October, 5 2020 with a motion made by Commissioner Harris, seconded 6 by Commissioner Belew. The Court approved by a vote of 7 two, one, two. Commissioner Moser voted against the 8 measure, Commissioner Letz and Kelly abstaining. A 9 Resolution in support of unborn, Pro Life Resolution. 10 And it's just to approve a Resolution in support of the 11 unborn, a Pro Life Resolution. And I think that is an 12 accurate reflection of that one. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, in that 14 reflection. Good. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I make a motion to 16 approve the court orders as listed. 17 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Second. 18 JUDGE KELLY: Motion's been made by 19 Commissioner Letz, seconded by Commissioner Harris to 20 approve the court orders as presented. Any discussion? 21 Those in favor raise your hand. Unanimous, five zero. 22 Information Agenda 3.1 status reports from 23 Department Heads. Charlie. 24 MR. HASTINGS: So I'd like to give a status 25 report on the East Kerr County Wastewater Project Phases 76 1 II and III. As you know several months ago we 2 advertised and bid project and we opened the bids. We 3 even awarded the contract to D Guerra for both Phases II 4 and III, Contracts 1, out of both of those. 5 And as you know just moments ago we formally 6 rejected all of Contracts 2 and 3 in Phase II, and 7 Contract 3. Those were just for the low to moderate 8 income services, and then had to -- that had to do 9 totally with the grant funding, and making sure we had 10 enough low to moderate income property identified to 11 satisfy the amount of money we have in the grant. 12 Trying to be efficient there. 13 In going through this process and in turning 14 in reports to the Texas Water Development Board for both 15 Contracts 1, for both Phases II and III, we discovered 16 that we -- we had an error in our advertising. State 17 law is very clear that when you advertise for bid, for 18 competitive bids, that you must advertise in consecutive 19 weeks. We had some weeks in between our advertisement 20 instead of consecutive. That's -- am I bad? I should 21 have made sure that our clerk knew exactly what needed 22 to happen. We've made -- taken corrective action on 23 that. We are already advertising again. Those 24 advertisements will run this Wednesday, I believe, and 25 next Wednesday. 77 1 And we have talked with the contractor, D 2 Guerra, they said they'd rebid. If you re-advertise, 3 we'll bid it again. So the new schedule would be to run 4 those advertisements this Wednesday, next Wednesday, 5 have a pre-bid meeting like we normally would, have a 6 bid opening date later in November with, I believe, an 7 award date -- gosh, I don't have the schedule in front 8 of me anymore. I don't know. Heather, you were on some 9 of that call. But either at the end of November -- I 10 think it was at the end of November. 11 MRS. STEBBINS: It's that week of 12 Thanksgiving is November the 20 -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It seems like -- 14 MRS. STEBBINS: Is it the 24th? 15 MR. HASTINGS: 24th would be bid opening, 16 but then we would need time to evaluate the bids and 17 then make a recommendation. 18 MRS. STEBBINS: The 30th is that -- 19 MR. HASTINGS: November the 30th, I believe, 20 is the day that we were targeting to award. That is 21 correct. Bid opening would be on the 23rd, it looks 22 like, that Monday. No, we had the bid opening on the 23 24th. You're right. 24 MRS. STEBBINS: Yes. 25 MR. HASTINGS: So the bid opening would be 78 1 on the 24th. And then award would -- would either be on 2 the -- no, we would receive the bids on the 30th and 3 then award them in December. Because we do need time to 4 make sure that it's going to be -- it'll be good. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: All right. 6 MR. HASTINGS: We don't know who the new low 7 bidder would be because it's going right back to the -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Now, when we opened the 9 bid the first time we read publicly the bid amounts so 10 everybody heard -- 11 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. And that was -- I think 12 the intent would be -- on the 30th is to -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I'm just saying 14 that's -- 15 MR. HASTINGS: -- get it in front of the 16 Court to receive them. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's the thing that's 18 not good about it. We read everybody's bid at that 19 time. So now if everybody rebid they'll know what the 20 low bid was. 21 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. That's true. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Bad for the contractor, 23 but may be okay with the County. 24 COMMISSIONER BELEW: And all this is because 25 the ad didn't run consecutive weeks? 79 1 MR. HASTINGS: In consecutive weeks. And, 2 you know, we really -- we looked hard. Heather looked 3 hard. She checked with Texas Association of Counties. 4 You would think in 2020, that it wouldn't be an issue. 5 You know, the reality is that the contractors that are 6 bidding on this, they're coming from all over the nation 7 to bid. There's -- there's not really anybody that read 8 the Kerrville Daily Times or the West Kerr Current that 9 said, oh, I better bid on this project. 10 But the State Law says that you have to 11 advertise in a local -- a paper of local circulation for 12 two weeks straight in consecutive weeks and that you 13 can't open bids until 14 days after the first 14 advertisement. Which we were in line with everything 15 else, we just didn't have the consecutive weeks. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There was a lot of 17 discussion the past couple weeks between Heather and 18 Commissioner Moser and myself and some were 19 communicating with the Water Development Board and 20 because of the amount of money, especially, and these 21 are Federal funds, pass through funds, we needed to make 22 sure that it is absolutely correct. The downside is 23 huge. So it delays it, which is unfortunate, but we 24 need to do it right. Okay. Thanks, Charlie. 25 MR. HASTINGS: You're welcome. 80 1 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. Any other 2 Department Head reports? Okay. 3 Let's move on to Elected Officials. I see 4 we've got at least one here. Mr. Reeves. 5 MR. REEVES: Good morning. I just wanted to 6 inform the Court and for everybody else, that next 7 Tuesday on election day based on the volume that I'm 8 anticipating compared to early voting, the office at the 9 courthouse will only be open for elections. 10 I'm upping the number of staff at Ingram to 11 handle property tax and motor vehicle that day, but I 12 don't anticipate I would be able to -- with the phone 13 system and everything else, be able to serve the public 14 properly. I'm required to be open 7:00 to 7:00 next 15 Tuesday, just like all this week. And based on the 16 primary, the number of phone calls we received in, I 17 just don't have the staff to do motor, property and 18 voter out of the tax office here. It will be a one-day 19 thing. Signage, I've notified the Public Information 20 Officer, and we'll get a press release, but I also 21 wanted to let the Court know. 22 COMMISSIONER BELEW: What -- what are the 23 numbers right now? 24 MR. REEVES: As of Saturday afternoon, we've 25 had 15,782 in-person early voting. That's just over 40 81 1 percent. That doesn't include the ballots by mail, 2 which I'm estimating close to ten percent when it's all 3 said and done on that. 4 I look for us to -- you know, last week, the 5 ones who haven't got in, we'll probably have one of the 6 highest turnouts ever in Kerr County. According to one 7 of the papers last week, at one time we were number six 8 in percentage turnout on the state. And the -- the 9 other counties were some of the larger, Collin, Denton, 10 Williamson, so I anticipate a trend to continue this 11 week as well, Commissioner. 12 JUDGE KELLY: Very encouraging. 13 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Here in Kerr County, 14 we should know Tuesday night the winner for our County 15 at least? 16 MR. REEVES: (Knocking on wood twice.) Yes. 17 We anticipate that -- that the early voting ballot board 18 begin signature verification Saturday. Nothing will be 19 opened or counted until Tuesday. But with that amount, 20 it's going to take Saturday and meeting again Monday 21 just to verify signatures. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How long are the -- are 23 there lines out at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, 24 or is it going pretty smooth? 25 MR. REEVES: It's going pretty fast out 82 1 there. While the first day of early voting, the line 2 was from the expo hall to the indoor arena when we 3 opened the doors, your actual time in line was very 4 minimal the way they were moving them through. The 5 longest I've heard out at the Ingram administration 6 building was about 15 to 18 minutes. Just simply, it's 7 not a big -- as big of a space, but we are handling that 8 and moving -- moving everybody through with that. 9 So we anticipate -- we have 20 polling 10 locations, and my staff, along with IT, has already 11 divided them up where they'll be early Tuesday morning 12 to make sure everything's set up properly. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good job. 14 JUDGE KELLY: Be sure and let your staff 15 know that we appreciate all the hard work they're doing. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 17 JUDGE KELLY: We really do. 18 MR. REEVES: Appreciate that. And they're 19 putting some long hours in, as I know a couple of you 20 know, plus the office. Anytime the polls are open, we 21 have to physically be open. So that is increasing the 22 hours from Sheriff's Department, too, to be here. 23 JUDGE KELLY: But be sure and let them know 24 personally -- 25 MR. REEVES: I will. 83 1 JUDGE KELLY: -- that this is not lost on 2 us. We appreciate what they're doing. 3 MR. REEVES: Well, thank you. Thank you, 4 gentlemen. 5 JUDGE KELLY: Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 7 JUDGE KELLY: Any other Elected Official 8 reports? Liaison Commissioners. 9 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: I have something and 10 it relates to the election that concerns maintenance. 11 You know, we put that new -- that generator, we moved it 12 over here, and we were going to fire it up this last 13 Monday and can't because of elections, and next Monday 14 it's the same way. So we'll get to it afterwards, Shane 15 and his crew to test fire it and make sure everything's 16 working. 17 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 18 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Well, I went with Julie 19 Leonard, and we got a little -- with the Historical 20 Commission, got a tour of the old Scofield Girls School 21 this weekend. The young couple, bright young couple 22 that had bought it and they're remodeling it, and we 23 were at first excited that maybe it's going to be a 24 tasting room or a -- some kind of an Event Center or 25 something, but they're just going to live in it for the 84 1 time. And they're doing a great job with it. So people 2 wonder about that stuff, what's going on up on that 3 hill, if it's still haunted and all this other stuff. 4 They assure me it's not haunted. And even though the 5 police tried to get that rumor started to keep the kids 6 away, it just brought more kids up there, so -- 7 COMMISSIONER HARRIS: Of course. 8 COMMISSIONER BELEW: They've had to repair 9 everything from tactical training that went on up there, 10 to kids' opening up the cistern and all that. But 11 they're -- they're on the road to doing something good 12 with it. 13 JUDGE KELLY: Good. 14 COMMISSIONER BELEW: Julie was ecstatic. 15 JUDGE KELLY: I'm sure. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only comment I have 17 is really not a true liaison, is that I mentioned my son 18 and the tournament this weekend. I also mentioned 19 Charlie's daughter. They won the national volleyball 20 tournament. Kansas is where you had to go? 21 MR. HASTINGS: Kansas City, Missouri. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Wow. 23 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. It's cold up 24 there. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Congratulations. 85 1 MR. HASTINGS: Thank you. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Long drive. 3 MR. HASTINGS: Yeah. And Garcia's daughter 4 is on that team, too. From Kerrville. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's right. 6 Paloma(phonetic) Garcia. Great kid. That's it. 7 JUDGE KELLY: The only thing I would share 8 is that the CIP, the Capital Improvement Planning 9 committee, did meet and had a very fruitful discussion 10 with the Board of Deacons for the Ingram Presbyterian 11 Church on that property adjacent from what we put the 12 contract on, just let them know that we have an interest 13 in it at some point, maybe not right now but at some 14 point we'd like to talk to them about trying to expand 15 our footprint there. So that went very well. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The price of property 17 just went up. All right. Good. How -- is the Spur 100 18 property still being discussed? 19 JUDGE KELLY: It's under contract. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Five acres? 21 JUDGE KELLY: A total of five acres. What 22 we did on the five acres -- that's being appraised. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 JUDGE KELLY: We -- they didn't know -- we 25 made them an offer, they didn't think it was enough. We 86 1 based it on what the price per acre was from Mark Watts' 2 earlier appraisal on the 16 acres. And so, because they 3 didn't know what to do and how to respond to us, they 4 asked if we could get an appraisal on the property. And 5 we agreed to split the cost of that. And so it's less 6 than $2,000.00 probably. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I talk to 9 Lonny(phonetic) last week and, you know, he's so 10 straight and narrow when it comes to -- I don't 11 understand all of their rules and stuff, but he has -- 12 was disclosing to me that he had talked to Clayson and, 13 you know, and that it was okay. And I said -- you know, 14 he asked if it was a mutual deal if we had wanted an 15 appraisal and you're working for us, but he assured me 16 we'll have access to it. 17 JUDGE KELLY: And so the public understands 18 what we're doing is, we felt like we had a pretty good 19 feel on what that property was worth per acre because of 20 the earlier appraisal that we had. And we didn't just 21 want to impasse this -- this negotiation with the VA -- 22 VA dog people. I don't know the tactical name of all 23 these people off the top of my head. And they've been 24 very cooperative. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. Yeah. The 87 1 Veteran Service dogs. 2 JUDGE KELLY: Yeah, Veteran Service Dogs. 3 And they've been very cooperative and they've reached 4 out and wanted to know if we would split the cost of the 5 appraisal and find out what it's worth and we approved 6 it. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So it's in the works. 8 Good deal. Super. 9 JUDGE KELLY: Okay. We're going to adjourn 10 into Executive Session. It is -- what time is it here? 11 10:44. And we will go to discuss consultation with our 12 attorney on pending possible litigation. So we will 13 adjourn for five minutes or a few minutes and come back 14 to order. 15 (Executive Session.) 16 JUDGE KELLY: Back in open meeting. We have 17 nothing else on the agenda. The Court is adjourned. 18 * * * * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 88 1 STATE OF TEXAS * 2 COUNTY OF KERR * 3 I, DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD, Certified Shorthand 4 Reporter in and for the State of Texas, and Official 5 Court Reporter in and for Kerr County, do hereby certify 6 that the above and foregoing pages contain and comprise 7 a true and correct transcription of the proceedings had 8 in the above-entitled Regular Commissioners' Court. 9 Dated this the 4th day of November, A.D. 10 2020. 11 12 /s/DEBRA ELLEN GIFFORD Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 No. 953 Expiration Date 04/31/2021 14 * * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25